U.S. President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Howard Taft Was Born
September 15, 1857
Do you think careers sometimes run in a family? William Howard Taft's father was a politician and his son would be too. Taft, United States president and chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born on September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, a prominent Republican, served as secretary of war under President Ulysses S. Grant. The younger Taft would eventually fill the same position. He started his political career in Ohio, shortly after becoming a lawyer in 1880.